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Simple Twitter Tips: What Does #FF Mean?

I get asked this question a lot. It’s one of a handful of abbreviations used in Twitter that bamboozles new users, and then they avoid using it. Which is a shame, because Twitter is a really great place to be as I’ve explained on many occasions.

I remember the very first time I saw #FF messages. My Twitter feed was littered with them but I couldn’t figure out what it all meant. I felt left out – what is #FF? How do I get one? What am I missing?!

A short, dirty guide to #FF…

#FF is short for #FollowFriday. It’s a Twitter trend created back in 2009 by Twitter users that has since become a customary Friday activity.

An #FF is a shout out, a show of appreciation, a nice thing to do.

Each Friday, you recommend Twitter profiles that you appreciate and enjoy to all of your followers. The idea being that your #FF recommendation will encourage others to check out that profile, generating more followers for them. See? A nice thing to do.

The # (hashtag – read all about them here) is added to create a clickable link and group all the #FF (or #FollowFriday) messages on Twitter together making them easily searchable.

The best ways to use Follow Friday

If you want to send an #FF, simply add #FF (or #FollowFriday) to your message, the @name of the person you are recommending along with a genuine reason for your recommendation. Like this:

Tip: Try to include just one recommendation per message, rather than a message full of @names which is often counter productive, like this one:

Lots of people do the latter. You’ll rarely get a follow from a group recommendation like this one above – there are way too many choices, and Twitter is too fast for making choices.

The only decision to make is whether to click on ‘that’ message or ‘this’ one, and if you’ve suggested 5 #FFs in one message you’ll be ignored or worse, labelled a spammer. Whereas, by giving a legitimate reason to follow someone people are more likely to listen.

Looking at both of these messages above, which one are you most likely to act on?

Sending a mutual #FF simply because someone has #FF’d you is not an authentic reason to send them one too. Don’t make this your reason for doing so – others will see through it and won’t appreciate a suggestion to follow someone who tweets nonsense all day. Please, be considered and genuine in your recommendations.

Lastly, If you’re lucky enough to receive an #FF, thank the person in a reply tweet, like this one:

Now you know all about #FollowFriday, who will you be showing your appreciation for next time?

Why #FF is good for your business

Not only is #FF useful for personal use, but it’s an excellent practice in your business.

By implementing it, you can receive a tons of new quality followers over time, use it as a great way to recommend a fellow business that you feel strongly about, gives you a chance to thank others for retweeting your content and at the end of the day, someone might #FF you back if you give them a shout out!

So, you think you’ve got no time for marketing online?

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Thanks for explaining #ff Ive been tweeting for a while now and have often wondered what all this #ff was all about and why do it. I couldnt understand why do it as it is very unlikely that someone in their timeline would actually follow any of these mentions, infact its quite possible it could result in an un-follow due to anoyance!
I can see the point now just doing one at a time as this would hold credibility. Would you send more than one #ff message in a day?
Very helpful post

It’s not uncommon to send more than one – often 4, 5 or even 10 maybe! I would suggest spreading them out throughout the day though – if you send a bunch of tweets all at once people get irritated by that too.

Alicia this #ff advice is worth its weight in gold. You managed to explain and guide me through how to make ‘friday follow’ worthwhile in easy and succinct steps. I made the mistake myself a few times early on of doing the bulk #ff thing but soon realised how the people would feel receiving them as I got a lot of groups ones with my name in them and they felt insincere and rushed!

When I first saw #ff on twitter, I googled it, but nothing that came back on my search was as helpful as your post.

As twitter is so quick to use, a heartfelt single #ff takes no time at all to do so why do people continue to bunch them up?!

I now try to make sure I think about who has helped me throughout the week and I thank those people via #ff on a Friday. I also like to think that thanking people doesn’t have to be just via #ff, it’s nice to show your gratitude via twitter every day of the week if people have genuinely helped you out.

Thanks again for your continued help and guidance in what can be a social media maze – for me anyway….

Thank you Alicia. New to serious tweeting I’ve just received my first ‘group’ #FF. Thank you for you precise instruction. I’ve wandered off to several other of your links all very informative. Thanks again.

[...] any country or territory) the web has spawned its own cryptic set of codes and words: ROFL, YOLO, #FF and so on. The Connected Republic of the Internet brought these into our common parlance, part of [...]

[...] I have previously written about the notion of followership on twitter (distinct from the leadership concept which is equally as important!) and would like to ‘follow’ it up with a muse on #ff. A quick guide to what #ff actually means can be found here. [...]

Thanks for this brilliantly clear advice on #ff! I’m a tweeter for a charity and have never been inclined to use it before, as it does seem insincere when you see clumped mentions in an #ff. After reading this, I’m looking forward to giving an #ff with a genuine reason!

Thanks for this helpful post. Unfortunately I have been guilty if the multiple @names #FF tweet but now know how to remedy it, so I’m gonna follow up with individual #FFs for each one. Also gonna explore your site for more insights, thanks Roberta

Wonderful advice Alicia. Embarrassingly I work for a internet marketing agency and wasn’t sure about #Followfriday, (at least I’m always learning!) but I am now.
Is it necessary to give a reason why you should #FF, that person.
i.e. “#FF @AbsoluteAlicia as she as she really knows her stuff when it comes to social media marketing?”

Thank you! I’m just learning twitter and got my second one today and thought, “I gotta find out what this means!”
I appreciate the heads up about the thanking…learning the etiquette is really important to me.
Tina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

[…] someone (specifically @WillRecruits) added me to his list a week ago. A quick Google search and Alicia Cowen (@AbsolutelyAlicia) explained this great practice to me via her blog. So, for those I have […]